Insight into Overcoming Tamas

Insight into Overcoming Tamas
by Swami Jyotirmayananda

According to the philosophy of Vedanta, everything in this world is constituted of the three gunas or three modes of Nature (Prakriti). The three gunas are sattwa (har­mony and purity), rajas (externalization, activity and pas­sion), and tamas (inertia and dark­ness). Even inanimate objects are produced by the blend of these three gunas in varying proportions.

The study of the three gunas in relation to the human personality is very important in the promotion of personality integration, which is, in turn, essential to advance on the spiritual path. In fact, the study of the three gunas gives profound insight into human psychology. It is an approach which has been de­veloped by sages throughout a course of thousands of years of spiri­tual practice and reflection.

Specifically, Srimad Bhagavad Gita gives a deep insight into the gunas in its 14th, 16th, 17tth and 18th chapters, and an aspirant should constantly study them to gain insight into their functions.

Let us consider now the lowest of the three gunas, tamas, and its implications in relation to human personality. Lord Krishna says in the Gita (XIV:13), “O Arjuna, when a person becomes devoid of reason and is not inclined to any activity, when he is subject to inattention (the habit of procrastination) and delusion, it should be known that tamas has overpowered him.” Srimad Bhagavat Purana (11-25-4) gives further insight into the expressions of tamas: “When tamas dominates one’s personality, he manifests these negative qualities: anger, greed, falsehood, violence, mendacity (deceptive nature), hypoc­risy, languor, discord, grief, delu­sion, gloom, wretchedness, sleep, negative expectation, fear, and in­activity.”

There are three generalized expressions of tamas: alasya (laziness), pramada (inattention or the habit of procrastinating) and nidra (sleep). These three are obstacles to progress in an individual as well as in a society, and so many of the ilk of humanity are caused by their presence. The majority of people unwittingly crave to increase tamas in their life. Most working people yearn for the day when they will be able to retire and to enjoy a glori­ous state of inactivity. The fact is, such a vision of life is based upon intense delusion. If one is deprived of activity and lives only to satisfy the cravings of the senses, his life will abound with boredom.

Many think physical labor is inferior to mental work. They shrink from physical activity and thus render their bodies sluggish, inflexible, and sickly. The physical body that is not subjected to daily activity and well-planned exercises becomes a vessel of diseases, and such a diseased body cannot main­tain a healthy mind. The relation­ship between body and mind must always be kept in view in order to attain success in spiritual discipline.

It should be understood that the three gunas exist in every hu­man being in different proportions. Even a tamasica has within him some degrees of rajas and sattwa. A tamasica may express certain sparks of virtue and goodness at times, but such a development will be only fleeting and transient.

An aspirant who has under­stood the various symptoms of tamas should try to remove them from his personality by his sustained self-effort and vigilance.

Important Facts About Tamas

Tamasic Chitta. When tamas dominates the chitta or the uncon­scious, it becomes filled with the impressions of anger, greed, ha­tred, delusion and other gross im­purities. By the practice of medita­tion, repetition of mantra (divine name) and other spiritual tech­niques, one gradually removes tamas from the chitta.

Tamasic Mind. When the mind is overpowered by tamas, the intel­lect becomes extremely dull. It is then unable to enlighten the senses regarding what is right and what is wrong. As if lost in a dark night, the senses continue to wander among the objects of the world aimlessly, while the mind continues to gather impressions of dullness and delu­sion. Such a mind becomes bur­dened with prejudices and obses­sions. Therefore, one must place himself under the influence of good association and devote his energy to serving spiritually evolved personalities in order to replace men­tal dullness with purity and harmony.

Tamasic Body. When tamas dominates the body, it becomes filled with the sense of boredom and exhaustion. It is inclined to gluttony, laziness and languor. The pranas or vital forces become disharmonized and the nadis or subtle channels through which the pranas flow become clogged with subtle impurities. Tamas in the body must be overcome by physical activity and work, by the exercises or asanas (yogic physical poses), and by the practice of pranayamas (breathing exercises) of Hatha Yoga. Further one must take recourse to satwic food — food that is balanced, nutri­tious, pure and harmonious to the system.

Tamasic Food. One who is tamasic in nature is inclined to food that is impure, stale and rotten, and that which will fill the body with toxic elements. An aspirant must evolve a balanced system of diet that suits his body. He must avoid non-vegetarian foods, alco­holic drinks, smoking, and halluci­nogenic drugs, or anything that is injurious to the body or mind.

Tamasic Faith. He whose na­ture is tamasic is inclined to the worship of the dark forces of na­ture in the form of ghosts and vam­pires, and that too for the sake of violence and revenge.

Tamasic Gifts. A tamasica does not give gifts out of the goodness of his heart. He is compelled to give under pressure, and when he does give, it is for the sake of fulfilling his evil desires. Further, he does not express any humility while giving gifts, but rather is filled with hatred and arrogance during the act.

Tamasic Pleasure. Tamasic pleasure is a process of delusion from beginning to end. Such a person derives pleasure from smoking or similar habits, and only leads him­self to many painful conditions.

Tamasic Firmness. A tamasica clings to his erroneous notions. Without taking recourse to the guidance of his reason, he holds on to the sentiments of fear, anger, hate and grief. He further persists in performing evil deeds without considering their painful consequences that he must eventually encounter.

Tamasic Renunciation. For the sake of physical comfort and because of his laziness, a tamasica re­nounces his duties and responsibilities. There is no real dispassion in him.

Tamasic Sleep. When a person goes to sleep while his mind is over­powered by tamas, he tends to sleep too much. Sleeping too much saps one’s vitality, fills the mind with evil thoughts and allows the body to accumulate toxins. It leaves the intellect dull and wastes much of one’s life. Many people sleep until late in the morning, and the longer they sleep the lazier they become. And further, their sleep is con­stantly interrupted by dreams — some they are able to remember and many they forget after waking. On the other hand, ideally, if one were to sleep soundly without be­ing interrupted by dreams, even for a shorter duration of time, he would feel refreshed in body as well as in mind.

Death during Tamas. If tamas predominates the mind during the time of death, one is led to tamasic embodiments — one is born in fami­lies that are extremely uncultured and gross, or one is born into an animal embodiment. It is reason­able to understand that if a person has been revelling in the muddy waters of anger, greed and delu­sion, he would continue to do so even after death; and having ex­hausted hellish sufferings in the astral planes, he would incarnate in subhuman levels.

Ways of Overcoming Tamas

Pratipaksha Bhavana. Raja Yoga gives a simple method of removing a negative quality from the person­ality: pratipaksha bhavana or adapting the mind to a positive quality which is contrary to the negative quality that is to be removed.

For example, if you want to eradicate anger, you must take recourse to the three phases of pratipaksha bhavana.

Firstly, try to recognize the er­ror of anger and restrain its expression to the best of your capacity. Think of the degrading conditions that anger will lead you to. Allow your mind to become disgusted by it.

Secondly, substitute thoughts of love, under­standing and forbearance which are contrary to anger. Think of those saintly personalities who were adorned with these virtues. Let your mind be captivated by them. As­sert, “Iam intrinsically pure and divine. Iam growing in love, under­standing and forbear­ance.”

Thirdly, continue with tenacity until the negative quality is sublimated into the positive one. Then you will dis­cover a unique form of strength surging within your heart. Therefore, remember the three stages of pratipaksha bhavana: suppression, substitution, and sublimation.

Adopting this method, over­come pride by humility, greed by generosity, falsehood by truthful­ness, violence by universal love, hypocrisy by sincerity, languor and laziness by useful activity, discord by harmony, gloom by cheerful­ness, wretchedness and humiliation by aspiration for lofty ideals, fear by courage, and delusion and igno­rance by knowledge and spiritual advancement.

Do Not Procrastinate. Do not become accustomed to postponing your dudes for another day when you could have done them today. Do not become a lover of ease and comfort, because when you do not attend to your duties, your mind continues to be restless and pressured. Remember that all the physical comfort of the world cannot really give you the sweet taste of relaxation.

Learn to Develop Keen Atten­tion. When you perform any work, do not do so half-heartedly. Let your actions be united with your thoughts. By constant practice of holding a keen attention during whatever work you do, you will be able to overcome tamas and subli­mate it into rajas as well as into sattwa.

The Art of Selfless Service. Try to serve God in humanity. As you begin to overcome tamas, you will discover an amazing potential within yourself. Then when you direct your emergent energy and potential towards the service of humanity, you will be favored by Nature; you will become increas­ingly enriched by divine qualities and eventually your personality will be completely transformed.

Satsanga and Sadhana. Satsanga or good association is the most effective cure for tamas. There are many illustrations given in the Puranas of its transforming qual­ity. Sage Valmiki was a vicious robber in his early days, but a brief encounter with Sage Narada instilled in him an aspiration to change his life. He was initi­ated into a mantra and he took to rigorous spiritual discipline that completely trans­formed his personality. He became Sage Valmiki, the famous au­thor of the Ramayana and Yoga Vasishtha. There are countless other such instances.

Sadhana consists of pursuing the disci­plines of Yoga under the guidance of a Guru. Japa (repetition of mantra or a Divine name), dhyana (meditation), swadhyaya (study of scriptures) and other simi­lar disciplines must be practiced day by day to bring about a change in the structure of one’s uncon­scious.

You should thus wage a con­stant war against the many forms of tamas and fill your life with the gentle sunshine of sattwa. May you sing the Vedantic prayer, “Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya” — “From darkness lead me to light!”

“International Yoga Guide” Vol. 34, NO. 9, May 1997

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